The Cop28 president told a shocking lie about fossil fuels – and he’s wrong about climate economics too | Geoffrey Lean
Sultan Al Jaber's claim that green policies damage economic growth is wrong and highly damaging
For months Sultan Al Jaber, the president of the Cop28 climate negotiations in Dubai, has been insisting that there is no conflict with his day job, chief executive of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) state oil company.
Instead, he argued, the dual role enabled him to persuade fossil fuel companies to change. And some early successes in the talks provided some credibility to that claim.
Geoffrey Lean is a specialist environment correspondent and author
Cop28: Can fossil fuel companies transition to clean energy?
On Tuesday 5 December, 8pm-9.15pm GMT, join Damian Carrington, Christiana Figueres, Tessa Khan and Mike Coffin for a livestreamed discussion on whether fossil fuel companies can transition to clean energy. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live